Exactly a month after the Anti-Corruption Bureau raided the offices of Civil Supplies Corporation and recovered documents that contained names of alleged beneficiaries of PDS rice scam, the Chhattisgarh government Thursday passed the Chhattisgarh Special Courts Act for speedy trial of corruption cases.

The new law makes provision for special courts for the trial of government servants facing corruption charges. Notice will be served to the accused officers once any case is filed in such courts, and it will be mandatory for the courts to dispose of the case within a year.
Any public servant, aggrieved by the decision of such courts, will have a right to appeal only before the state high court within 30 days.

After the law was passed by a voice vote in the assembly Thursday, Chief Minister Raman Singh said: “Many corruption cases remain pending for years in courts…The new law will ensure strictest punishment for corrupt people.”

Chhattisgarh is now the third state after Bihar and Madhya Pradesh to pass such law. The law also provides that the state will have a right to seize the property of a public servant if the authorities conclude that it was obtained through a crime.

The state government has faced flak after the ACB seizures revealed that top government functionaries received illegal commission through PDS rice.